Holding Pattern

“Hold up my goings in thy paths, [that] my footsteps slip not.” (Ps 17:5 AV)

We forget how much we are dependent on the power of God to live in the word of God.  Most of what we do is on our own strength.  To some degree, that is ok.  God does hold us accountable for our choices and there are times when we can make the right ones in the might of our own strength.  However, to assume that is true all the time is to invite failure.  David certainly understood the request above.  There were times his integrity carried him through.  There were many times when the LORD strengthened him to do the right thing.  Then there were those times he relied on his own strength and failed miserably.  Knowing the hands of God are under our arms, ready to catch us and keep us from falling, is the strength we need for every day and every moment of our pilgrimage.

Growing up in the north, ice skating was a recreational must.  My father made it a goal to teach his children to swim and to skate.  The swimming thing he delegated to the Red Cross.  The skills of ice skating were his alone to impart.  I and my siblings went through the same rite of passage.  My father would pack up the family and take us to the local rink.  Those of us who knew how to skate would lace up and hit the ice.  There was always one or two of us who did not.  My sister and I were in such a case.  Being ten months apart and learning for the first time in the same winter, my dad had to switch between us two.  First thing was to learn how to lace up double-bladed ice skates.  He took the first one out and attacked me or her to the side panels.  Then the other would follow.  At first, he would hold us up by the armpits.  He taught us how to glide.  Then he taught us how to push off.  The rink walls worked good enough to stop.  Once he got one of us started, he would go back and get the other.  Once we got our balance, he would skate behind us.  Rather than holding us up, he would place his hands under our arms so that if we began to fall, he would catch us.  Whether we needed those hands or not, knowing they were there if we started to fall often kept us from doing so.  It didn’t take but a little bit and we were off on our own.  Every once in a while, after a hard fall, he would have to come and pick us up.  We knew that someone bigger and more experienced, who also had our best interest at heart, had our six.

David is also emphasizing the nature of the path.  He is concerned that he might slip.  But even more concerning is the worry that he might slip from God’s path.  While reading this passage, I could not help but go back to those years as a three or four-year-old.  Not having learned how to walk or run for no more than a year or two, my father knew it was important to teach us how to skate.  Reading the above passage, I could not help but remember what it was like.  I could not help but to recollect the emotion.  The feeling of my father towering over me with his hands under my arms, ready to keep me from falling.  Knowing I was safe in his watch care made me braver and more confident to learn.  Sometimes, we get too old and experienced in the LORD to remember how desperately we need Him.  We forget what it was like to be a spiritual babe.  We forget what it was like to fuss and fight for every little inch of maturity.  We forget just how fragile life is and we tend to rely on Him less and not more.  Now that I am getting up there in age, I am reminded just how much I truly need Him.  The closing of this pilgrimage will find me in impossible situations.  There will be hard times wherein the only way I can make it is with God’s total care.  I am glad David wrote this.  We should live this way every day.  God is there.  He will hold us up.  So, we can go through life, no matter the stage, and have boldness in the path He has chosen.